1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to a card connector, and, more particularly, to a card connector having an auxiliary urging member allowing it to be ejected in a reliable manner when pushed in the forward (or insertion) direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, electronic devices, such as personal computers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, digital/video cameras, music players, game machines or car navigation devices, are provided with a card connector for using a variety of memory cards. In order to facilitate ejection of a memory card from a conventional card connector, the conventional card connector is typically configured to incorporate a means such that the memory card may be discharged by using a spring force. An example is disclosed in PCT Patent Application No. PCT/EP1999/0003450.
FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic plan view of a conventional card connector. As shown in FIG. 8, housing 811 is provided with slide member 821, slidably attached thereto so as to be urged in one direction by coil spring 881. In the illustrated example, the conventional card connector is a “push-push” type connector, in which cam groove 823 of a heart cam is formed in slide member 821, and a free end of pin member 871 is engaged into cam groove 823 with one end latched to housing 811.
When a user inserts (pushes) memory card 901 into housing 811, memory card 901 is pushed deep into an innermost side (the upper side in FIG. 8) of housing 811. Slide member 821 then comes into engagement with concave portion 912, formed in a portion of a lateral edge of memory card 901, and is moved toward the innermost side of housing 811, together with memory card 901, while resisting against a repulsive force of coil spring 881. Further, when the free end of pin member 871 is latched to cam groove 823 by the action of the heart cam, and when slide member 821 stops moving, memory card 901 is held stationary in the position where it is inserted into housing 811.
When a user ejects memory card 901 from housing 811, the free end of pin member 871 is released (from being latched to cam groove 823). With this operation, slide member 821 is set free and moved toward the front side (the lower side in FIG. 8), together with memory card 901, by the force exerted by coil spring 881. Thus, memory card 901 is discharged from housing 811. FIG. 8 illustrates a state immediately after the discharge operation of memory card 901 is started.
However, in the conventional card connector, when memory card 901 is ejected, it can get caught in housing 811 in spite of pushing by the user, and discharge of memory card 811 may result in failure. Additionally, in recent years, with the rapid miniaturization of electronic devices, memory cards and card connectors have also become miniaturized. For this reason, it is necessary to miniaturize coil spring 881. As a consequence, the force necessary for discharging memory card 901 must decrease.
In order to miniaturize housing 811, it is necessary that a slide mechanism, including coil spring 881 and slide member 821, be provided only at one side of housing 811. Hence, the discharge force acts on only one side of memory card 901 (via slide member 821). As a result, memory card 901 is displaced so that it is somewhat tilted, as illustrated in FIG. 8. Since a gap between front end 901a of memory card 901 and inner wall portion 811a of housing 811 differs from the left end to the right end, it can be understood that memory card 901 is displaced by the rotation thereof in the clockwise direction. As a result, a side surface of memory card 901 is pressed against a lateral wall of housing 811 opposite slide member 821. Further, by friction between the lateral wall and the side surface, the discharge of memory card 901 is prevented.
In addition, in recent years, memory card 901 often has a rough, rather than a smooth, surface. In such a case, the friction between the inner surface of housing 811 and the surface of memory card 901 might increase, as compared with the instance in which the memory card is not tilted. Thus, the discharge of memory card 901 can further be prevented.
Furthermore, since the contact pressure between a plurality of contact pads of memory card 901 and a plurality of connection terminals of the card connector cannot be effectively decreased (from the viewpoint of securing connection reliability), any decrease in the discharge force results in a main cause for preventing the discharge of memory card 901.